


spirit theft has always been a necromancer’s trick

by knightfelix (Taeyn)



Series: Fictif Last Legacy: x Reader oneshots [11]
Category: Last Legacy (Visual Novel), The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Crying, Emotions, Multi, breaking up, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25328773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taeyn/pseuds/knightfelix
Summary: "N-now you're the one who sounds like they're breaking up with me," Felix sniffles wetly, forcing his mouth into a lopsided smile as he tries to joke.The worst thing is, you can tell he's genuinely trying to lighten the mood, he doesn't actually think that's what you're doing.And you see the exact moment his smile wavers, then slips.
Relationships: Felix Iskandar Escellun/Reader
Series: Fictif Last Legacy: x Reader oneshots [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657315
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	spirit theft has always been a necromancer’s trick

**Author's Note:**

> we may have to have another chapter for the making-it-up part after this angst!! :3 but I wanted to quickly write a scene that potentially fit between Sage and Anisa telling you about Rime, and the finale scene of Felix chapter 4

You feel strangely numb as you depart from Sage and Anisa, what they told you about Rime slowly sinking beneath your skin. You'd always known there had been a connection between Rime and Felix. You'd always known Rime wasn't with the group anymore. You'd always known Felix bringing you into this world was an accident.

So why does it suddenly feel like you never actually knew anything at all?

You stop, leaning back against the cool stone of the hallway, your trembling palms finding purchase on the walls. You're trying to calm your breathing, trying to understand why this is getting to you so much. Did you even have a right to know? Felix's past clearly still hurt him, you certainly never wanted to push him to share anything before he was ready.

But this wasn't just anything, and it wasn't something that had nothing to do with you. It hits you now, with unexpected force, that you were the unfortunate collateral of Felix's attempts to bring someone he cared for back from the dead. All the while there had been Rime, the person whose place you had taken, the person Felix had _loved_.

What had you been to Felix in the meantime? What had he been thinking when he'd knelt to kiss your hand not two hours earlier? Was that simply a ploy to get you to go along with his crazy plan to poison himself?

 _Stop, stop,_ you silently tell yourself. You need to regroup, to focus on finding a way to clear Felix's name, or at least to break the magical hold Escell seems to have imprisoned him with.

But even as you try to move toward the study, you find yourself questioning everything about Felix's plan. You have no idea what Felix's true motives are right now. What you'd assumed were harmless secrets now seem like spectres in the shadows, dangers growing ever more tangible the longer you stay in this world.

The real ghosts, you realised, weren't the ones Sage insisted were haunting the Anguis family home. They were the ones Felix carried with him every day since you'd arrived, and you weren't going to do their bidding any longer.

You're about to walk right back to Sage and Anisa and explain everything, when Felix filters through the wall in front of you, looking worried. You cut him off before he has a chance to tell you what he's found.

"Felix, I think you'd better return to your body," you say quietly, squashing down the ache in your throat. His worry turns to concern- he's far too good at reading you, and the emotion on his face steadily becomes more fraught.

"What's wrong? Are you alright? Did something happen?" he trips over the words, his thoughts of retrieving his spellbook forgotten as he searches your expression, his hands instinctively raised as if to defend you from danger.

This isn't the right time, not with him treading the boundaries of death and life himself.

"I think this situation with the spirit thief... I think it has more to do with me than I first thought," you manage. Which is still true enough, no matter how defeated your heart now feels.

"Wh-what does that mean?" Felix babbles. He closes the distance between you, but before you even mean to, you take a step backward, your eyes stinging with unshed tears. Felix halts immediately, trying to conceal the unfamiliar hurt of your rejection.

"-please tell me...what that means," Felix tries again, and your chest clenches as you see him do his best to swallow, his mouth trembling. "I can see something's terribly wrong. Please... I..."

He wrings his hands, helpless, and you realise you're going to have to be direct and ask him. It was half-truths, after all, that led down this path in the first place.

"Was it Sage and Annie's stories about me being a pompous idiot back in the Starsworn?" Felix blurts, his face abruptly falling in horror. "I... I assure you, those days are _long_ behind me! I would never dream of such foolish behaviour... I.. I should really apologise to Anisa and Sage... it was only my pride stopping me... that and my... me being stubborn, a-and ashamed, and-"

He looks so genuinely mortified, so deeply regretful that for a moment you forget your misgivings and just want to reach out and comfort him. But this has nothing to do with his training days. Heck, your own high-school stories are no less embarrassing, you doubt anyone's are. Felix hangs his head.

"...that's not that, is it?" he says in a low voice, sounding so broken that you can barely bring yourself to shake your head.

Felix turns away, you think he might be wiping his eyes. You sense he doesn't want you to hold back just because he's upset. He wants you to be honest.

And you're starting to realise just how tough that can be.

"N-now you're the one who sounds like they're breaking up with me," Felix sniffles wetly, forcing his mouth into a lopsided smile as he tries to joke. The worst thing is, you can tell he's genuinely trying to lighten the mood, he doesn't actually think that's what you're doing. And you see the exact moment his smile wavers, then slips. His mouth slowly parts in realisation, his eyes welling before he can help it. He takes a step back as his inhale tangles in a short, strangled sob.

 _We were never... never officially together,_ you tell yourself, a desperate attempt to halt the swell of emotions that suddenly knocks you breathless. You'd just maybe, possibly, somewhere along the way, begun to consider each other as more than just friends.

A tear trickles from the corner of Felix's eye, tracing an uneven line down the side of his nose.

"Have you been training me as a Starsworn knight just to get Rime back?" you ask quietly. Felix's mouth drops open, his eyes wide and startled as you stare at each other, before-

"NO!" Felix yelps, with such urgency that for a moment you're sure the whole of Fathom Tower heard him, incorporeal form or not. He looks stricken, unblinking and gaping at you as he staggers where he stands, the colour draining from his face. "No- _no-_ "

He shakes his head, gasping as if he's been hit, as if this were the most important moment of his life and all he can do is stay frozen to the spot. "No.. Oh gods. I... never.. _no-_ "

With an effort that looks like it causes him physical pain, he takes a deep breath and shakily moves a hand toward his chest, trying to make himself okay.

"There are so many stupid, _stupid_ reasons I didn't tell you about Rime," Felix whispers hoarsely, his voice torn, about to break. He forces himself to meet your eyes, but his mouth crumples as he reaches for your hand, forgetting himself. "But _please-_ "

You hear a creak from the opposite end of the hallway, then Anisa's soft footsteps as she turns the corner, giving you bare seconds to ready yourself. Your name is a surprised question on Anisa's lips.

"Did you... find what you needed in Felix's study?" Anisa asks, looking around as if expecting to find more people in the hallway than just you. You wonder if she guesses more than she's letting on. The crackle of tension in the air is unmistakable.

"I... um... not yet. I'm just heading there now," you manage. You're trying to string together something about getting lost in the castle, but Anisa doesn't press you any further. She waits, pensive, then seems to come to a decision, nodding at you reassuringly.

"Well, let us know if you need any help, okay?" Anisa says, her expression as caring as it is sincere. "I know Sage can be a bit of a handful, and I'm probably not as much the knight-in-shining-armor as I wish I could be... but we're both here for you all the way, I mean it."

You nod in genuine thanks, not yet trusting yourself to say more. As Anisa heads back to reconvene with Sage, you turn and start walking toward Felix's study. Your mouth is dry and your footsteps feel like lead, but you told Felix you wouldn't be leaving without him, and you're going to see this through.

"You don't need to get the book!" Felix sobs urgently, his face wrought with regret. "I should never have asked! Please, I fear there's something here amiss... and I- I need to tell you I'm sorry... a-and that I'm-"

How long would he have waited to tell you? Until Rime was alive again? Or just until someone else got hurt?

You need to retrieve the spellbook, rescue Felix, and make sure the spirit thief can't do any more damage. You need to make sure the people you've come to care about are safe, no matter what else happens.

" _-yours,_ " you think you hear him whisper, Felix's fingers slowly slipping from your hand as you walk away.

-

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so so much for reading!! ;w; comments or kudos are always adored and appreciated <3
> 
> I have a Wattpad account too, so if anyone uses Wattpad or wants to find me there, my username is ‘knightfelix’ and you can find me below! I follow everyone back!! c:
> 
> <https://www.wattpad.com/user/knightfelix>


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